La variación en el uso de las expresiones de certeza en los textos científicos

La lengua inglesa es utilizada tanto por escritores nativos como por escritores no nativos para comunicarse de forma internacional. El uso que hacen de las diferentes partes de la frase nos puede aportar información sobre la concepción cultural de algunos términos. Nuestro objetivo principal en este artículo es identificar el uso de las expresiones en inglés de certeza efectuado por los escritores nativos y por los escritores no nativos. La intención del escritor no nativo es transmitir certeza o incertidumbre, pero debido a la influencia cultural, puede transmitir otro significado. En este estudio vamos a determinar la importancia de las variaciones en el uso de las expresiones de certeza y si influyen en la interpretación de la investigación científica.Non native writers and native writers use English as an international language, and the different frequency of the parts of a sentence can provide us information about the cultural conceptions of some terms. Our main objective in this article is to identify the difference in the use of the words or the phrases that express certainty when used by native and non native writers of English. The intention of the non native writer is to transmit certainty or uncertainty, but as he is influenced by his cultural environment, could transfer a different meaning to the text. In this paper, we try to determine the relevance of the variations of the use of certainty expressions and if they influence in the interpretation of scientific research

Multimodal metadiscourse in digital academic journals on linguistics, engineering and medicine

[EN] The main objectives of this study are, first, to analyse the interactive metadiscourse devices used in engineering, medicine and linguistics and the identities represented; second, to identify the visual metadiscourse elements employed in the three identities constructed in the three specific settings and, finally, to classify and compare the multimodal metadiscourse used to cohere the different parts of digital academic discourse with the aim of guiding the reader textually as well as visually. To this end, academic papers were collected from journals which belonged to the specific fields of linguistics, engineering and medicine. The corpus was analysed to identify and classify the data. The results showed that there were in fact differences in the way academic writers used multimodal metadiscourse and constructed and represented their identity. The study revealed that engineers used visual metadiscourse more frequently, while linguistic researchers preferred the use of textual metadiscourse. Finally, conclusions were drawn.Funding and grant-awarding bodies: Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, Spain. Research project FFI2016-77941-PCarrió-Pastor, ML. (2021). Multimodal metadiscourse in digital academic journals on linguistics, engineering and medicine. European Journal of English Studies. 25(5):259-277. https://doi.org/10.1080/13825577.2021.198825425927725

El aprendizaje del metadiscurso multimodal en la enseñanza del inglés como lengua extranjera

This paper shows some of the findings of the research project “Identification and Analysis of Metadiscourse Strategies in Research Articles in English and Spanish” with reference FFI2016- 77941-P, funded by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain (2017-2020).Even though both visual and textual elements create multimodal discourse, the former have received less attention (Kumpf, 2000) than the latter (Hyland, 2005) when teaching a foreign language. The hypothesis of this study is that teaching how multimodal metadiscourse is organized in academic writing may be beneficial if implemented in English for specific purposes. The objectives of this analysis are to identify the patterns of multimodal metadiscourse and to study if teaching the categories of multimodal metadiscourse could improve performance at communicating effectively in an increasingly multimodal world. Thus, a corpus of sixty-four academic papers on engineering written by native English speakers was compiled. Then, the visual and textual metadiscourse elements were classified with a tool and manually to identify patterns that could be used for teaching multimodal metadiscourse. Additionally, the frequencies of the textual and visual elements were identified. Tasks based on the results were proposed and carried out with an experimental group at Universitat Politècnica de València. The results show the patterns of multimodal metadiscourse, the classifications and the outcomes of the experiment with the students. Finally, conclusions shown that multimodal literacy is not implicit or associated to language proficiency, it should be instructed.Aunque tanto los elementos visuales como los textuales conforman el discurso multimodal, los primeros han recibido menos atención (Kumpf, 2000) que los segundos (Hyland, 2005) cuando se enseña una lengua extranjera. La hipótesis de este estudio es que enseñar el metadiscurso multimodal en la escritura académica puede ser beneficioso en la adquisición del inglés para fines específicos. Los objetivos son identificar los patrones del metadiscurso multimodal y estudiar si enseñar el metadiscurso multimodal puede mejorar la capacidad para comunicarse de forma efectiva en un entorno multimodal. Se compiló un corpus de sesenta y cuatro artículos académicos del área de ingeniería escritos por hablantes nativos ingleses. A continuación, se clasificaron los elementos visuales y textuales del metadiscurso con una herramienta y de forma manual para identificar patrones que pudieran ser utilizados para la enseñanza del metadiscurso multimodal. Adicionalmente, se identificaron las frecuencias de los elementos textuales y visuales. Se propusieron tareas basadas en los resultados y se llevaron a cabo con un grupo experimental en la Universitat Politècnica de València. Los resultados muestran los patrones del metadiscurso multimodal, las clasificaciones y los resultados del experimento con los estudiantes. Finalmente, en las conclusiones se evidenció que la dimensión multimodal no está implícita o asociada al conocimiento de una lengua, si no que ha de ser enseñada.FFI2016- 77941-P Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain (2017-2020

The assessment of metadiscourse devices in English as a foreign language

[EN] The objectives of this paper are to identify the metadiscourse devices used by English learners at the different levels of language acquisition established by the Common European Framework of Reference and to categorise them to facilitate the assessment and learning of textual and interpersonal devices. First, a learner corpus of essays written by English learners was compiled. Then, the metadiscourse devices were classified in different levels and categories. The results showed the lists and frequencies of metadiscourse devices. The examples aim to make additional and explicit connections between levels of language proficiency and assessment of metadiscourse devices. It can be stated, as a conclusion, that metadiscourse devices portray specific ways of argumentation in essay writing in different levels of EFL proficiency.Spanish Ministry of Economy, Spain, Grant ID FFI2016-77941-P.Carrió-Pastor, ML. (2021). The assessment of metadiscourse devices in English as a foreign language. Assessing Writing. 50:1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asw.2021.1005601125

La formación de profesores de Inglés como medio de instrucción: El uso de marcadores metadiscursivos

This paper explores the outcomes of training pragmatics identifying the metadiscourse devices that are used by the content teachers enrolled on a course leading to a university qualification for teaching in English within the context of a Spanish-speaking country. Specifically, I focus on the analysis of the frequencies of the textual and interactional devices used by university lecturers during an online English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) course with the aim of identifying the use of devices and how it could affect in their profession. The method followed involved the analysis of one hundred teaching units. The first step of this analysis was to collect the final projects written during three academic years by EMI university lecturers who were enrolled on an online course at Universitat Politècnica de València. I then identified the frequencies of textual and interactional devices, analysed their functions in the teaching unit and compiled examples. The results were later compared with the pragmatic training received during the training course and I also proposed some guidelines to help EMI teachers improve the use of metadiscourse devices. Finally, conclusions that could be useful for EMI trainers and trainees were drawn.Este artículo explora los resultados de la formación en pragmática, identificando los elementos metadiscursivos que utilizan los profesores de contenido que realizan un curso para obtener un diploma universitario para enseñaren inglés en España. En concreto, me centro en el análisis de las frecuencias de los marcadores textuales e interactivos utilizados por estos profesores universitarios durante el curso online sobre Inglés como Medio de Instrucción (IMI), con el objetivo de identificar su uso y cómo puede ello afectar en su profesión. El método utilizado implicó el análisis de cien unidades didácticas. El primer paso de este análisis fue recopilar los trabajos finales redactados durante tres cursos académicos por profesores universitarios de IMI matriculados en un curso online de la Universitat Politècnica de València. A continuación, identifiqué las frecuencias de los elementos textuales e interactivos, analicé sus funciones en la unidad didáctica y comenté los ejemplos. Los resultados se compararon posteriormente con los conocimientos pragmáticos recibidos durante el curso de formación y también realicé algunas propuestas para ayudar a los profesores de IMI a mejorar el uso de los marcadores metadiscursivos. Por último, se extrajeron conclusiones que podrían ser útiles para los formadores y aprendices de IMI

Intercultural analysis of chats in a collaborative environment

[EN] Learning a second language is a complex process in which academic, social and cultural environments of learners should be considered (Connor, 2004). Nowadays, learning environments have been affected by the more and more frequent use of technology (Chapelle, 2002, 2003, Levy and Hubbard, 2005, Bax and Chambers, 2006, Dudeney, 2007, Felix, 2008, Butler-Pascoe, 2011). Traditional teaching methods have been advancing towards more and more autonomous approaches and that require self-learning activities to use resources in a dynamic way, adapting them to learners. The objectives of this paper are, on the one hand, to analyse the intercultural characteristics that can be observed while participating in a chat in a foreign language. On the other hand, to study in which way a collaborative platform makes easier communication among learners. In order to answer the objectives, chats produced by learners enrolled in two subjects of English as a foreign language (level of the CEFR B1) taught in an engineering degree at Universitat Politècnica de València in the academic years 2015-16 y 2016-17. The total number of words of the chats was 18.560. The communicative interactions among students were studied to identify those intercultural characteristics used by learners in the chats in a collaborative way and then, classified. My intention was to identify the kind of intercultural characteristics used and their frequencies. Furthermore, it was also considered if the tasks were done in a collaborative way and the kind of errors most frequently done by learners. The mother tongue of the learners involved in the study could be Spanish or Catalan and this was taken into account in the interpretation of the results. Finally, it was identified that 30% of words were borrowings or calques, but communication among learners was successful.[ES] El aprendizaje de una segunda lengua es un proceso complejo en el que se han de tener en cuenta el entorno académico, social y cultural del aprendiz (Connor, 2004). En la actualidad, el entorno de aprendizaje se ha visto afectado por el uso cada vez más frecuente de la tecnología (Chapelle, 2002, 2003, Levy y Hubbard, 2005, Bax y Chambers, 2006, Dudeney, 2007, Felix, 2008, Butler-Pascoe, 2011). Los métodos tradicionales de enseñanza han dado paso poco a poco a métodos cada vez más autónomos y en los que se requiere una gran parte de auto-aprendizaje para poder utilizar los recursos a nuestro alcance de una forma dinámica y acorde a los medios accesibles por los aprendices. En este artículo, los objetivos que se plantearon fueron, por un lado, analizar los rasgos interculturales que se transmiten cuando se participa en un chat en lengua extranjera y, por otro, estudiar de qué forma una plataforma colaborativa facilita las interacciones entre los alumnos. Para ello, se recopilaron los chats de los alumnos de dos asignaturas de inglés como lengua extranjera (nivel B1) impartidas en una titulación de ingeniería de la Universidad Politécnica de Valencia durante los cursos académicos 2015-16 y 2016-17. Estos chats estaban compuestos de 18.560 palabras. Se analizaron las interacciones entre los alumnos para identificar aquellos rasgos interculturales que habían sido utilizados por los alumnos en los chats de forma colaborativa y se categorizaron, para con ello identificar qué tipo de rasgos interculturales se habían utilizado y su cantidad, y si la comunicación se realizaba de forma colaborativa y se categorizaron, para con ello identificar qué tipo de rasgos interculturales se habían utilizado, su número y si la comunicación se realizaba de forma efectiva, considerando los errores que realizaban. Los alumnos que participaban en el estudio podían tener como lengua materna el español o el catalán y este rasgo se tuvo en cuenta en la interpretación de los resultados. Finalmente se identificaron un 30% de expresiones de las lenguas maternas, así como invenciones de palabras o adaptaciones de palabras de las lenguas maternas. Una vez analizadas las interacciones, se comprobó que el uso de expresiones causadas por interferencias culturales no impidió la comunicación entre los alumnos.Carrió-Pastor, ML. (2019). Análisis intercultural de los chats en un entorno colaborativo. e-SEDLL. (2):33-45. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/156421S3345

Intercultural analysis of English modal contructions in engineering academic papers

Academic English can be said to be non-emotional. However, when texts written by speakers with different mother tongues are analysed, language variation can be observed in the way some constructions are used. In this paper, a corpus of academic papers is studied to extract frequencies and examples of modal probability construction and to analyse variation in the use of this construction when employed by non-native writers of English. The main objective of this analysis is to apply the principles of Construction Grammar to language variation. Further objectives are to detect variation in the use of modal constructions and to study their functions in the specific field of engineering. For this purpose, a corpus of one hundred academic papers written in English by Spanish writers and by native English-speaking writers was compiled. The constructions made up of modal verb + infinitive that indicate probability were then identified. Examples of this English construction used in different ways to express the same meaning by researchers with different mother tongues were discussed. Finally, results were commented on and conclusions were drawn

Self-representation in political campaign talk: A functional metadiscourse approach to self-mentions in televised presidential debates

[EN] Self-mentions (i.e., first person pronouns and self-citations) have proven to be one of the most powerful ways of rhetorical self-projection in academic discourse and their role in the construction of a self that engenders credibility in more overtly persuasive genres, such as political debates, has been extensively studied, given the vast literature on pronouns in political discourse analysis and specifically on their uses in political debates. To gain a better insight into the ways in which politicians can build a credible ethos through a competent and authoritative presentation of themselves in electoral debates, this paper compares the frequency and rhetorical roles of the self-mentions used by the candidates of the two major political parties (i.e., Democrats and Republicans) during the debates held for the United States presidential election of 2016. The Republican candidates (i.e., Trump and Pence) were found to make a notably greater use of self-mentions than their Democratic counterparts (i.e., Clinton and Kaine). Significant differences were also found in the rhetorical roles most commonly adopted by each politician to convey authority through the use of exclusive pronouns and self-citations.This research has been financially supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades (Reference FFI2016-77941-P). Ana Albalat-Mascarell has been awarded with a FPU grant by the Spanish Government, Ministerio de Educacion Cultura y Deporte (Reference FPU14/06506).Albalat-Mascarell, A.; Carrió-Pastor, ML. (2019). Self-representation in political campaign talk: A functional metadiscourse approach to self-mentions in televised presidential debates. Journal of Pragmatics. 147:86-99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2019.05.011S869914

Second Language Writing: use of the World Wide Web to Improve Specific Writing

[EN] Different strategies should be considered when teaching writing in a second language, as successful writing involves, among other things, the ability to integrate information learnt by the writer in different kinds of contexts. Nowadays, the World Wide Web is a very useful source of information for second language students, as they can obtain information about very specific topics and practise a second language. In this paper, our main objective is to detail how the use of the World Wide Web can benefit the language skills of university students. Apart from practising a second language, students obtain useful information related to the specific subjects they study to achieve an Industrial Engineering degree in Spain. The purpose of this pilot study is twofold, to improve their performance in a second language (English) and to widen their knowledge of specific topics. The results obtained in this pilot study are shown and the benefits of the use of the World Wide Web are detailed.S235239116